American Lutheran Church

Bishop Herbert Chilstrom of Minneapolis on Friday was elected presiding bishop of the newly united Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after two days of voting. He defeated Bishop David Preus, head of the former American Lutheran Church and a fellow Minnesotan, on the ninth ballot 626-411. Bishop Chilstrom, 55, has been a Minnesota regional synod bishop of the former Lutheran Church in America.

The 5.3-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which will be formed next year from the merger of three Lutheran church groups, has proposed the $27.8 million purchase of a building in Chicago's O`Hare Plaza Complex to be used as its headquarters, according to a spokesman. About 400 church employees are to occupy seven floors of the 11-story building at 8765 W. Higgins Rd., and the church will lease the rest of the space, said Herb David, a spokesman for the...

Paul E. Erickson, bishop of the Illinois Synod of the Lutheran Church in America during the merger of three Lutheran denominations in the 1980s, died Tuesday, April 3, at a Downstate nursing home in Savoy, his daughter said. Rev. Erickson, 85, had undergone surgery after breaking his leg about a month ago and never recovered, said his daughter, Carol Erickson Shafis. After pastorates at two churches, Rev. Erickson was named assistant to the president of the church's Illinois synod in...

William R. Schieve, 92, of Sun City, AZ, passed away on Jan. 2, 2007, surrounded by his loving family. William was born in Chicago, IL, the son of Henry and Pauline Schieve. William retired from Wire Sales Co. in Chicago as a plant engineer. He served during World War II reaching the rank of Captain in the Intelligence Department and was an original member of American Lutheran Church of Sun City. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Dorothy; son, Dean (Mary) Schieve of Woodridge; daughter Lynn (Daniel)

"This will be an American church cutting across the whole spectrum of people. No longer will people look at a Lutheran and say, this is a German or a Swede." --David Preus, presiding bishop of the American Lutheran Church, commenting on the coming merger of his and two other Lutheran denominations into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "We were really surprised by its size. Here we had a larger-than-life woman and she turned out to really larger...

Speaking of his "quasi-jazz improvisation" and "some avant-garde kinds of things," Merrill "Jeff" Davis III sounded more like a pop musician than the premiere performer on Trinity Lutheran Church's new $400,000 pipe organ Sunday. Even Rev. Charles Mueller Jr. is given to references much broader than biblical hymns when describing his Roselle church's new pride and joy. "There are times at a concert, when you're right up front, that you just get caught up in the music. Sometimes that happens...

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, responding to a nearly $22 million deficit incurred in its first two years of existence, announced Thursday that it is cutting 39 staff positions through firings and attrition. In addition, 60 of the denomination's 272 missionary positions will be cut through attrition by 1990; grants to partner churches will be reduced by 10 percent; and ELCA leaders plan less travel, fewer conferences, reduced support to congregations and 25 fewer new congregations...

By Paul Simon. and Paul Simon is a United States senator from Illinois and the son and brother of Lutheran ministers | September 19, 1996

The Senate is expected to vote soon on whether to override President Clinton's veto of legislation that would outlaw late-term abortions. I am opposed to banning this procedure. I voted against the original Senate bill and I will vote against the motion to override the veto. I recently received a letter from a well-meaning woman who belongs to my church. She suggested that because of my stand on abortion I should leave the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church and join the Evangelical...

William R. Schieve, 92, of Sun City, AZ, passed away on Jan. 2, 2007, surrounded by his loving family. William was born in Chicago, IL, the son of Henry and Pauline Schieve. William retired from Wire Sales Co. in Chicago as a plant engineer. He served during World War II reaching the rank of Captain in the Intelligence Department and was an original member of American Lutheran Church of Sun City. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Dorothy; son, Dean (Mary) Schieve of Woodridge; daughter Lynn (Daniel)

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, responding to a nearly $22 million deficit incurred in its first two years of existence, announced Thursday that it is cutting 39 staff positions through firings and attrition. In addition, 60 of the denomination's 272 missionary positions will be cut through attrition by 1990; grants to partner churches will be reduced by 10 percent; and ELCA leaders plan less travel, fewer conferences, reduced support to congregations and 25 fewer new congregations...

Rev. Reuben T. Swanson, a Lutheran church executive, has been elected interim bishop of the Metro Chicago Synod for the new Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, church officials announced Monday. Rev. Swanson, 65, who is scheduled to retire at the end of December from his post as secretary of the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA), was chosen to fill the Chicago vacancy left by the surprise resignation last month of Bishop John H. Tietjen. Bishop Tietjen, who served for only a...

Central Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls, Wis., once stood as a textbook case of Christian unity. Its 1,500 members joined to build the massive stone meeting house a block from the town's main street. They organized church bazaars and community projects. Church was a social as well as religious place, and theirs was a family of faith. But the foundation began to shake six years ago upon the announcement that the three major branches of Lutheranism-the American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church in America and the...

Paul E. Erickson, bishop of the Illinois Synod of the Lutheran Church in America during the merger of three Lutheran denominations in the 1980s, died Tuesday, April 3, at a Downstate nursing home in Savoy, his daughter said. Rev. Erickson, 85, had undergone surgery after breaking his leg about a month ago and never recovered, said his daughter, Carol Erickson Shafis. After pastorates at two churches, Rev. Erickson was named assistant to the president of the church's Illinois synod in...

The newly elected leader of the Chicago region of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America harbored childhood dreams of pursuing precarious professional careers on the stage or in politics. But even though Bishop Sherman G. Hicks responded instead to the beckoning of the Christian ministry, he cheerfully insists that his earliest ambitions have been largely fulfilled. His pastoral vocation, he says, has afforded him ample opportunity to employ the theatrical, oratorical and diplomatic...

The members of three Lutheran churches seem to agree overwhelmingly on the benefits of a proposed merger that would make the new Evangelical Lutheran Church the fourth-largest Protestant denomination in America. It's just the site of the new church's headquarters that has everybody up in arms. After 15 years of discussion, church representatives will vote Friday at three separate conventions on the merger, which is designed to streamline operations and unify the three ideologically...

Rev. Reuben T. Swanson, a Lutheran church executive, has been elected interim bishop of the Metro Chicago Synod for the new Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, church officials announced Monday. Rev. Swanson, 65, who is scheduled to retire at the end of December from his post as secretary of the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA), was chosen to fill the Chicago vacancy left by the surprise resignation last month of Bishop John H. Tietjen. Bishop Tietjen, who served for only a...

Speaking of his "quasi-jazz improvisation" and "some avant-garde kinds of things," Merrill "Jeff" Davis III sounded more like a pop musician than the premiere performer on Trinity Lutheran Church's new $400,000 pipe organ Sunday. Even Rev. Charles Mueller Jr. is given to references much broader than biblical hymns when describing his Roselle church's new pride and joy. "There are times at a concert, when you're right up front, that you just get caught up in the music. Sometimes that happens...

Herbert W. Chilstrom, a tall and sturdy Minnesotan of pure Scandinavian stock, has never been to Lake Wobegon, but he has taken frequent flights of imagination to nearby Skunk Hollow, where all the children are above average if they can spell the name of their mythical pastor, Toivo Soren Schneiderstrom. The pastor, like Chilstrom, is Lutheran. His improbable Finnish-Danish-Germ an-Swedish name was often affixed to a monthly newsletter that Chilstrom wrote for Minnesota...